Celebrate 50 years of Timorese culture in Australia with hundreds of young voices from across Victoria at the Melbourne Town Hall. Mai Fali Eh! is a powerful, uplifting music project bringing students together to sing songs in Tetum, the national language of Timor-Leste and share stories of the island country.
Join us for an unforgettable journey of culture, connection, and community through song.
The Boîte Schools Chorus 2025 | Mai Fali Eh!: Songs and Stories of Timor-Leste
Session Times: 1pm
Date/Time: Saturday 6 September, 2025
Venue: Gay E. Gough Theatre, Mount Clear Secondary College
59 Olympic Ave, Mount Clear
Bookings:
http://bit.ly/4lumOoG
All tickets are general admission. There will be no allocated seating.
The venue is wheelchair accessible.
2025 marks fifty years since the first Timorese refugees fled their homeland in the face of invasion, arriving in Australia in December 1975. While a quietly resilient community is celebrating survival and achievements this anniversary, The Boite joins the celebrations through music and story-telling.
Named after the well known Tetum children’s song, Mai Fali Eh! ("Come Back Again"), in which a mother calls her children home at sunset, the concert brings together over 700+ children across Victoria who have spent the past months celebrating and learning about the rich culture of Timor-Leste. In this concert, they will be singing a repertoire originally developed by leading Timorese singer and songwriter, Ego Lemos with Australian musician, Andrea Khoza. The songs are a collection of traditional pieces sung in Tetum and contemporary pieces. Led by musical director Stella Savy, choristers will be performing alongside Timorese-Australian artists, Paulo Almeida, Jose Mesquita and Filomeno Bioveda.
Central to the performance is the telling of The Crocodile Story - an origin story of East Timor, about a legendary crocodile named Lafaek Diak, whose friendship with a human boy was so deep that when Diak died the ridges on his back became the mountains of Timor-Leste.
‘At the Boite concert, singing was the obvious highlight. Every song had a great rhythm and beat, created by a small team of drummers and other percussionists playing on the stage with us. Even now,months later, I can remember all the words to the catchy songs.’- Annabelle, Student, Scots School Albury, Windrush.
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